TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Maple Leafs fired President and General Manager Brian Burke on Wednesday in a shock move just days before the National Hockey League returns to action following a bitter labor dispute with players. Assistant General Manager Dave Nonis will replace Burke, who is remaining with the Maple Leafs team as a senior advisor.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even the White House couldn't resist weighing in on the nationwide debate over whether Washington Redskins star rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III should have been kept in Sunday's NFL playoff game in which he went down with a gruesome knee injury. Washington coach Mike Shanahan has come under fire for leaving the ailing Griffin - widely known as RG-3 - in the 24-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks and possibly putting the young player's career at risk.

Isner out in Sydney as withdrawals continue

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Top seed John Isner was knocked out of the Sydney International by compatriot Ryan Harrison on Wednesday but at least he got out on court on a day when injury withdrawals continued to ravage Australian Open warm-up tournaments. World number five David Ferrer remained on course for his fourth Auckland Open title, albeit after a tough 6-4 2-6 6-3 battle against Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun in his first outing of the year.

Sweaty Isner disgruntled by time violation rule

SYDNEY (Reuters) - John Isner limped out of the Sydney International on Wednesday with his Australian Open participation in doubt but the thing that frustrated him most about his last 16 defeat was the umpire checking how long he was taking to serve. The ATP are strictly enforcing a new rule giving players 25 seconds to get their serve away this year in a bid to speed up the game and big-serving Isner was a victim of the policy in his 6-4 6-4 loss to fellow American Ryan Harrison.